Michelle-Andrea Girouard

M-School gave me an incredible amount of freedom—from pitching my own ideas, to collaborating with editors, to choosing artistic direction. I even created video templates for new digital segments for brands like Maclean’s and Hello! Canada. I filmed Orange is the New Black star Samira Wiley, photographed Canadian musician and songwriter Fefe Dobson and covered important topics like sexual assault revolving around the Jian Ghomeshi trial, cyberbullying and the American election.

What were your primary tasks?

Everything you can think of: pitching, brainstorming, collaborating artistic direction with brands, coordinating logistics for shoots, choosing lighting and set-up, shooting videos and photos, directing the talent, cutting video, colour correcting, audio editing, title and motion graphics, and anything else I may have missed. To sum it up: Imagine a superhuman wearing all black and sunglasses walking in slow motion to the Dropkick Murphy’s “I’m Shipping Up to Boston,” with audio and camera gear in a backpack, three tripod bags slung across her torso, and a massive, rolling lighting gear case in her right hand.

Describe one day in the workplace.

There is no one day in the workplace because video gurus are working with almost every magazine Rogers owns, which means adapting to a different style and subject every time. One is either teleported to a different location in the city to shoot, zoned in at one’s workstation editing, or in an epic meeting with like-minded creative gurus. But I will say what remained consistent throughout—a positive atmosphere, a supportive and open-minded video team, peers who laugh at my jokes even when they’re not funny (I stare them down so they know it’s time to laugh), innovation and the sharing of ideas.

What is your dream job?

Produce and host my own journalistic television series for HBO, Netflix, National Geographic, or OWN that touches on global issues, human-interest stories or politics within the documentary or satire genres (whichever method is the most effective at informing and entertaining the largest possible public audience in five to 10 years).